Saints in the Maronite Tradition

By Dr Margaret Ghosn

 

 

The high esteem for asceticism and respect for hermits has always been part of the Maronite people’s faith. To them, hermits attest to the spiritual life and message of Christ. The spiritual life of the hermit according to Zayek involves ‘a profound liturgical life; meditation upon Holy Scriptures; adoration of the Blessed Sacrament; and devotion to the Mother of God.’[1] Their life of physical solitude is a life of love without consolation. St. Theodoret, the Bishop of Cyrus described these hermits as true ‘athletes of the spirit.’ Referred to as the Anchorites from the East, or ‘Fathers of the Desert’, these were people of great holiness. The Eastern Churches today still enumerate them, especially in Lebanon and Syria. Today in Lebanon there are numerous shrines dedicated to saints. However five particular saints hold special admiration by the Maronites. Mary the Mother of God is the Patroness of Lebanon and is highly esteemed. Saint Maroun is considered the Founder of the Maronites. Three modern day saints who are well loved include Saints Charbel, Hardini and Rafqa. There are also many earlier saints and there are recent religious figures who have been raised to the blessed status by the Holy See.

 

 

Mother of our God 

The Maronite Church has from the beginning, claimed a special devotion to the Mother of God. In villages, homes, mountains and the streets of Lebanon, one finds shrines to Our Lady. On all Marian feasts, particularly the feast of the Assumption, Maronites throughout the world gather in prayer at Churches named in honour of her. Mary is often referred to as Our Lady of Lebanon. Hymns, feast days and the liturgical life of the Maronite Church also express this devotion.

In the Anaphora of the Announcement to Mary it is written, ‘O Mary, you are the pure one who has scented the world with the fragrance of Christ. You are the cloud which has scattered dew upon the universe.’ The Wednesday Divine Liturgy Anaphora also honours Mary. One of the prayers reads, ‘O Mary, Radiant Lily and Fragrant Rose, the aroma of your holiness fills the whole universe. Pray for us, that we may be the sweet perfume of Christ, reaching throughout the whole world.’

Mary has a prominent role in the Maronite Church and she plays a role in the theology of Salvation. Christ became human to make us divine. For Christ to become human Mary was chosen. Mary is called blessed among women, because it was her ‘yes’ in faith, which brought forth Jesus, the Saviour of the world.

Mary, being perfectly redeemed, has already attained perfection of soul and body and her assumption into heaven assures us of our own bodily resurrection, our own journey of divinisation. Mary is the Cedar of Lebanon, a strong and firm believer and follower of God’s loving transformation.

 

  

Figure 1          Maronite icon of Mary the Mother of God, with her Son Jesus.

Marian theology sustains a balance between the humanity and divinity of Jesus. The divine One fashions, nurtures and sustains the world, yet also as a human is fashioned, nurtured and sustained by Mary. The Maronite tradition has a deep devotion to Mary, and never removes the imagery of the child from her arms, as seen in the above icon of Our Lady of Iliege.

 

 

Saint Maroun 

Saint Maroun is considered the Father of the spiritual and monastic movement now called the Maronite Church. Maroun, born in the middle of the 4th century was a priest who retired as a hermit, to a mountain in the region of Cyrrhus in Syria. It is believed that the place was called ‘Kefar-Nabo’ on the mountain of Ol-Yambos, making it the cradle of the Maronite movement. His holiness and miracles attracted many followers, and drew attention throughout the empire. Maroun was able to convert a pagan temple into a Christian Church. This was to be the beginning of the conversion of Paganism to Christianity in Syria which would then influence and spread to Lebanon.

Reference to Saint Maroun are found in writings by Saint John of Chrysostom in a letter dated 406 CE. Theodoret of Cyr also refers to Saint Maroun:

 

After Akepsimas, I will call to mind Maroun, for he adorned the godly troop of the holy ones. Maroun embraced life under the sky, taking for himself a certain hill-top which had long ago been honoured by the impious. And having dedicated to God the sacred precincts of the demons in that place, he passed all of his time there, pitching a small tent, but making little use of it. Maroun did not only employ the customary labours, but he conceived others also, gathering together the wealth of wisdom.[2]

 

Theodoret goes on to describe the physical and spiritual healing powers of Saint Maroun.

Saint Maroun was deeply monastic with emphasis on the spiritual and ascetic aspects of living. He embraced the quiet solitude of the mountain life where he freed himself from the physical world by his passion and fervour for prayer and entered into a mystical relationship of love with God. Accompanying his deeply spiritual and ascetic life, he was a zealous missionary. After his death in the year 410 CE, his spirit and teachings lived on through his disciples. 

 

 

Figure 2          Saint Maroun  

 

 

 

 

 

Saint Charbel (1828-1898)

 

‘...hermit of the Lebanese mountain is inscribed in the number of the blessed, a new eminent member of monastic sanctity is enriching, by his example and his intercession, the entire Christian people. May he make us understand, in a world largely fascinated by wealth and comfort, the paramount value of poverty, penance and asceticism,

to liberate the soul in its ascent’

–        Pope Paul VI, October 9, 1977

 

Youssef Antoun Makhlouf was born in 1828, in Bekaa Kafra, North Lebanon. The youngest of five children, he became a shepherd. Since his father died early in life an uncle supported the family. As a child Youssef was inspired by the life of two maternal uncles, who were monks of the Maronite Lebanese Order, living in a hermitage only three miles away. In 1851, at the age of 23 years, he left his family village for the Our Lady of Maifouk monastery to spend his first monastic year. He then went to Saint Maron monastery in Annaya, where he entered the Maronite Order, carrying the name Charbel, a name of one of the Antioch church martyrs of the second century. The young monk was sent to prepare for the priesthood at Saint Cyprian of Kfifan, where he was ordained six years later at the age of 31. He returned to Annaya where for sixteen years he was a model of perfection. Charbel performed his priestly ministry and his monastic duties in an edifying way.

On February 15th, 1875, Saint Charbel was granted permission to enter the Saint Peter and Paul hermitage. His 23 years of solitary life were lived in a spirit of total abandonment to God. The Eucharist became the centre of his life. Rarely did he leave the hermitage, following the way of the saintly hermits in prayers, life and practice. He was offering Mass a week before Christmas, when paralysis struck him as he elevated the host. Saint Charbel died quietly on the 24^th of December 1898, at the age of 70. He was buried in the St Maron monastery cemetery in Annaya.

A few months later, dazzling lights were seen around the grave. From there, his corpse, which had been secreting sweat and blood, was transferred into a special coffin. In 1950, the grave was opened in the presence of an official committee who verified the soundness of the body. After the grave had been opened and inspected, the variety of healing incidents multiplied. Charbel Mahklouf was canonized on October 9, 1977.

Although the events of Saint Charbel’s life are not extraordinary save by their heroic virtue, he appeals to many generations of believers. Acts such as enduring the extreme cold of the hermitage each winter, without adding additional garments to his very simple ones, indicate a person of endurance. This appeals to young Maronite adults who rarely witness people of solitude, internal prayer and contemplation. Furthermore, a great many miracles have occurred to people of all creeds and nationalities, who have been healed either when people touched his body or were anointed with the oily liquid that sweated miraculously from his remains, or when they touched his clothes. Again miracles appeal to people and combined with Saint Charbel’s silence, mortification, deprivation and total gift of self, he has become a universally accepted saint.

Here in Australia the Lebanese Maronite Order has a church and college which hold the name of Saint Charbel.

 

 

Figure 3          Saint Charbel

 

 

Saint Nemetallah Hardini (1810-1858)

Father Nemetallah Kassab, the mentor of Saint Charbel, was born in 1808 in Hardine, North of Lebanon.  At the age of twenty, he joined the Lebanese Order of Monks in the monastery of Saint Anthony, Kozhaya in North Lebanon. As a novitiate, his life was one of virtue, praying and meditating.  He adopted the name Nemetallah which means grace of God. After two years, he received the monastic habit in 1830 and was sent to the monastery of Kfifane to prepare for priesthood. In 1833, he was ordained. 

Father Nemetallah became a member of the General Council of his Order for three terms, 1845-1848, 1850-1853 and 1856-1858. As a member of the Council he continued to bind books, a technique he learnt at the monastery. He also taught in the schools.

Fr Nemetallah was above all a person of prayer. He spent days and nights in meditation, his arms uplifted in prayer before the Eucharist. The Virgin Mary was his patron and he prayed the rosary daily. He prayed the Divine Liturgy with great reverence. During his life he was often called ‘The Saint.’

He died at the age of 48 on 14th December 1858, after struggling ten days with a high fever contracted from the cold winter wind. Sometime later, the monks opened his tomb and found his incorrupt body. It was examined and placed in a new coffin in 1996 in the Monastery of Kfifan. Pope John Paul II beatified Fr Nemetallah on 10 May 1998. He was canonised on 16 May 2004. The Maronite Church celebrates his feast-day on December 14.

In Australia the Lebanese Maronite Order have purchased land at Appin where they intend to build a retreat centre, nursing home and school, which will bear the name of Saint Hardini.

 

Figure 4          Saint Nematallah Hardini

 

 

Saint Rafqa (1832-1914)

Saint Rafqa was born in Himlaya, Lebanon on June 29^th 1832.  She was an only child. Her baptismal name was Boutroussieh. At the age of seven, her mother died. In 1843, her father experienced financial difficulties and sent her to work as a servant for four years in Damascus. In 1847, she came back home to find that her father had remarried.

Rafqa felt drawn to religious life and so she joined the Congregation of the Mariamettes (1859 - 1871). She became a novice in 1861. Upon taking her vows she was sent to the Ghazir Seminary, where in her free time she studied Arabic, calligraphy and arithmetic. In 1860, Rafqa was sent to Deir El Qamar to teach. There, she witnessed the bloody clashes that occurred in Lebanon and on one occasion risked her life by hiding a child under her robe. In 1863, she was sent to teach in a school in Byblos. One year later, she was transferred to Maad. There in the village, with another nun, she spent seven years establishing a new school for girls.

While living in Maad and following a crisis in her Congregation, Rafqa asked God to guide her decision making. This led her to the Lebanese Maronite Order, to the Monastery of Saint Simon El Qarn in Aito (1871-1897). There she wore the novice robe in 1871 and pronounced her vows the following year. She chose the name Rafqa, after her mother. She spent 26 years in the monastery. She was a role model to the other nuns. Her life was full of prayer, sacrifice and austerity. Throughout her life, Rafqa was the recipient of revelations by voices, dreams, and visions.

On the first Sunday of October 1885, she entered the monastery's church and asked Jesus to permit her to experience some of his sufferings during his Passion. Her prayer was immediately granted with unbearable pain in her head and eyes. Her Superior insisted that she undergo medical treatment. After all local attempts to cure her failed, a doctor ordered immediate surgery to her right eye. In the course of the surgery, the doctor uprooted her eye which fell on the floor. For the next 12 years Rafqa experienced intense pain in her head.

In 1899 Rafqa lost sight in her left eye and became paralysed. With this, a new stage of her suffering began. She suffered for 17 years as a blind paralytic and by 1907 was totally paralysed and in constant pain. According to some doctors, Rafqa suffered from osteo-articular tuberculosis. She spent the last seven years of her life lying in bed. However she has use of her hands and would spend time weaving socks.

On the 23^rd of March 1914, Rafqa rested in peace. A splendid light appeared on her grave for three consecutive nights. On July 10^th, 1927, her body was transferred to the monastery's church.

In Australia a Church to be built in the next few years in Leppington will be given the title of Saint Rafqa.

 

Figure 5          Saint Rafqa

By Dr Margaret Ghosn

 

Spirituality of the Eastern Churches

The Eastern Churches, notes Roccasalvo, reflect a spirituality that has four central ideas.[1] First, for the Eastern Christian, holiness is concerned with remaining attentive and ready to be interiorly transformed. Second, tradition and customs are observed with great reverence. Third is the ascetic tradition of rest, silence and mastery over one’s passions, in order to experience pure contemplation and prayerful union with God. Eastern Christians are fond of repeating the phrase, ‘Lord have mercy’ in their prayers and Eucharistic service. Fourth, the Eastern Churches celebrate the feast of the Resurrection as the main event of the liturgical year. The faithful greet one another with the refrain, ‘Christ is risen!’ This is preceded by an intense celebration of Great Lent beginning with a rigorous fast on Ash Monday (unlike the Ash Wednesday of the Roman Catholic Rite).

In the celebration of the Eucharistic liturgies, a sense of the sacred and transcendental is conveyed.[2] In the Maronite Church, the Eucharist is called the Divine Service of the Holy Mysteries. The service exhorts the faithful to celebrate the liturgy with heartfelt praise, gratitude, mercy and need. This is done joyfully yet with dignity, carefully preserving the sense of mystery and transcendence. The celebration of the Sunday Eucharist represents the high point of the week. In body praise, Eastern Churches perform the sign of the Cross not only to praise the Trinity and to revere the cross but also to symbolize the sacredness of their bodies as temples of God. Eastern Churches are resplendent with the visual beauty of icons and liturgical furnishings. Incense is used to reverence the interior of the church building, the offertory gifts, the icons and the faithful. The Eastern Churches call the faithful to honour Mary because she is the one who bore God and is appropriated a place with her Son in the celebration of the Eucharistic liturgies. Maronites hail Mary’s strength and fidelity under the term ‘Cedar of Lebanon.’ Maronites hear the words of consecration solemnly proclaimed in Syriac (Aramaic), the language used by Jesus. Retaining, in part, the mother tongue, reflects one of many ways in which the lifeline to the past is kept alive in Eastern Christian worship.

 

Maronite Spirituality

Maronite spirituality has distinguished itself from other Eastern Churches in elements acquired throughout history. These include attachment to the land, ecumenical openness, and emphasis on a spirituality of the suffering, crucified and risen Christ, while awaiting his second coming. It is a spirituality which has remained faithful to its monastic character.[3]

Maronite spirituality has an ecumenical character, stemming from its belonging to the universal Catholic Church, a fact which distinguishes it from other Syriac Churches. Its universalism has also been manifested through a dialogue with the Arab-Muslim world, a result of Lebanon’s situation as the only Middle Eastern country where Christians hold some degree of political power.[4] At the same time the Maronite Church in the predominantly Islamic Middle East, has also been burdened by its political role.

The cross is at the centre of Maronite spirituality. The crucified Christ allows Maronites to understand and internalize the persecutions they have endured. It gives meaning to their suffering, transforming their weakness into strength, persecution into victory and death into Resurrection.[5] The cross and emphasis on suffering has remained a powerful symbol as a result of the continual persecution of Maronites in the Middle East.

Lebanon has a long history, thousands of years, which has shaped the Maronite spirit. It was the centre of the Phoenician empire and in biblical tradition was chosen by King Solomon to supply materials for his temple:

 

King Solomon conscripted forced labour out of all Israel; the levy numbered thirty thousand men. He sent them to the Lebanon, ten thousand a month in shifts; they would be a month in the Lebanon and two months at home; Adoniram was in charge of the forced labour. (1 King 5:13-14).

 

Historically the Lebanese are ‘ethnically a mixture of Phoenician, Greek, Arab, Persian and Armenian elements.’[6] This is a result of a long history of independence interrupted by the occupation of Assyrian, Babylonian and Persian rule, followed by Alexander. By 64 BCE Lebanon was part of the Roman Empire. By the end of the 7^th century Arabs and Persians settled there, though the Arabic language did not take over from Aramaic Syriac for over a thousand years. It is no surprise therefore that Maronites, who have resisted the influence of other cultures, religions and languages, still today maintain the will to hold onto their own identity and religion.[7] 

For centuries invading armies have come and gone. Christ walked the land and monasteries dot the landscape. The Lebanese state as constituted in the 1940s was for the Maronites a country set apart from the rest of the Arab world by religion and by its relationship with Europe.[8] So at the turn of the twentieth century, with the extended civil war, the posting of Syrian armies in Lebanon and eventual withdrawal, continued political interference by Arab nations, the 2006 Israeli-Hezbollah conflict, and extended vacant presidential seat (November 2007-April 2008), the Church’s role became politically driven.

 

 

By Dr Margaret Ghosn

Seasons in the Church

The Maronite Catholic Lectionary marks various Seasons however these vary and include the Glorious Birth of the Lord, the Epiphany, Great Lent and Passion Week, Glorious Resurrection, Pentecost and ends with the Season of the Glorious Cross. Table 1 sets out the divisions of the Seasons according to the Roman and Maronite Catholic lectionaries.

 

Table 1           The Seasons of the Liturgical Year in both the Roman Catholic and Maronite Catholic Churches.

 

Seasons in the Church
Roman Catholic	Maronite Catholic
	Sundays of the Church (1-2 weeks)
Advent (4 weeks)	Season of the Glorious Birth of the Lord (7 weeks, including Christmas)
Christmas and Epiphany (2 weeks)
	Season of Epiphany which includes three commemoration Sundays (1-7 weeks)
Ordinary Time I (6-8 weeks)
Lent (6 weeks)	Season of Great Lent (7 weeks)
Triduum (3 days) – Holy Thursday, Good Friday, Holy Saturday	Passion week
Easter (8 weeks)	Season of Glorious Resurrection (7 weeks)
Pentecost Sunday (1 week)	Season of Pentecost (Up to 18 weeks)
Ordinary Time II
	Season of the Glorious Cross (7 weeks)

 

 

 

Cycles of the Lectionary

The Maronite Catholic Lectionary cycle affixes texts to seasons and festivals of the church year. The texts speak out of literary and historical contexts in ways appropriate to the season.

From the Crusades through to the 16^th century and onwards contact with the Western Church led to Latinisation. However following the Second Vatican Council in the 1960’s the Maronites were encouraged to reform their Liturgy. The Patriarchal Liturgical Commission and the Institute of Liturgy began reviving the authentic Maronite Liturgy with the revision of the Divine Liturgy in 1992, followed by the Lectionary in 1993.

The Maronite Lectionary is a one year cycle. The Maronite Lectionary presents one Reading taken from a Christian Scripture Epistle, Acts, or the Book of Revelation. This daily reading follows through on a theme throughout Sunday and the ensuing week. This is followed by the reading of a Gospel account which is taken from any of the four evangelists and continues on the same theme as that in the First Reading. Yet little of each of the Gospels are read and the yearly cycle is often described as repetitive, year after year. It was anticipated that at the recent Patriarchal Maronite Synod (2003-2006) that there may be added in the future a second reading, taken from the Hebrew Scriptures, to reflect more deeply the richness of the Word. However this has not become a reality at the present time. Table 2 sets out the Sunday Gospel Readings for the Maronite Catholic yearly cycle.

           

 

Table 2           The Seasons and Gospel Passages used in the Maronite Catholic Lectionary

 

Season	Gospel Passages
Renewal and Consecration of the Church  (1-2 weeks)	Consecration of the Church – Mt 16:13-20 Renewal of the Church – Jn 10:22-42
Season of the Glorious Birth of the Lord (7 weeks)	Announcement to Zechariah – Lk 1:1-25 Announcement to Mary – Lk 1:26-38 Visitation of Mary – Lk 1:39-45 Birth of John the Baptist – Lk 1:57-66 Revelation to Joseph – Mt 1:18-25 Genealogy of Jesus – Mt 1:1-17 Birth of the Lord – Lk 2:1-20   Finding of Jesus in the Temple – Lk 2:41-52
Season of Epiphany which concludes with three Commemoration Sundays	Weeks of the Epiphany   Sunday of the Deceased Priests – Lk 12:42-48 Sunday of the Righteous and Just – Mt 25:31-36 Sunday of the Faithful Departed – Lk 16:19-31
Season of Great Lent and Passion Week (7 weeks)	Cana Sunday – Jn 2:1-11 Ash Monday Cure of the Leper – Mk 1:35-45 Cure of the Haemorrhaging Woman – Lk 8:40-56 Parable of the Lost Son – Lk 15:11-32 Cure of the Paralytic – Mk 2:1-12 Cure of the Blind – Mk 10:46-52 Palm Sunday & Passion Week – Jn 12:12-22
Season of Glorious Resurrection (7 weeks)	Resurrection Sunday – Mk 16:1-8 New Sunday
Season of Pentecost (Up to 18 weeks)	Sunday of Pentecost – Jn 14:15-20 Holy Trinity Sunday – Mt 28:16-20 Followed by up to 16 weeks focusing on Spirit & Mission Fifth Sunday – Calling of the Disciples – Mt 10:1-7 Sixth Sunday – Sending of the Disciples – Mt 10:16-25 Seventh Sunday – Sending of the 72 Disciples – Lk 10:1-7 Eighth Sunday – Spirit of the Disciples – Mt 12:14-21 Ninth Sunday –  Mission of the Disciples – Lk 4:14-21
Season of the Glorious Cross (7 weeks)	Feast of the Exaltation of the Cross – Jn 12:20-32 First Sunday after the Feast– Sons of Zebedee Mk 10:35-45 Second Sunday – Persecutions - Mt 24:1-14 Third Sunday – False signs - Mt 24:23-31 Fourth Sunday – Good and bad servants - Mt 24:45-51 Fifth Sunday – Ten Bridesmaids - Mt 25:1-13 Sixth Sunday – The Talents - Mt 25:14-30 Seventh Sunday - Feast of Jesus the King – Mt 25:31-46

 

 

Preparation for Christmas

The Maronite Lectionary commences in November and depending on when the first Sunday falls in the month, the Dedication to the Church could be one or two weeks in length. These two Sundays focus on the Consecration and Renewal of the Church. If the first Sunday is early in November then two Sundays are dedicated to the Church. Otherwise, a later date to the first Sunday in November means both the Consecration and Renewal of the Church are celebrated in the first week of November. From there the official Seasons begin. For both the Roman Catholic and the Maronite Catholic Lectionaries, the official start to the Seasons commences with the Season of preparation for Christmas.

In the Maronite Lectionary, the Season of the Glorious Birth of the Lord, commences immediately after the week(s) of Dedication to the Church. The Sunday Gospel passages recount week by week, the announcements leading up to the Birth of Christ. These include the ‘Announcement’ to Zechariah and Mary, as well as the ‘Revelation’ to Joseph. Proceeding Christmas and before entering the Season of the Epiphany, the Sunday focuses on the Finding of Jesus in the Temple.

 

The Season of Epiphany

Following on from the Season of the Glorious Birth, the Maronite Catholic Liturgy celebrates the Season of Epiphany, which falls on the 6^th of January. For the Eastern Churches, the Epiphany is the Baptism of Jesus. In contrast the Roman Catholic Liturgy celebrates the Epiphany as the presentation of the Magi and their gifts to the child Jesus, while the Sunday falling after 6 January is the feast of the Baptism of the Lord. Yet 'Epiphany' as 'Manifestation' is common to both West and East Churches. The Season of Epiphany in the Maronite Lectionary runs for 1-7 weeks, depending on when Easter falls. If Easter is later in the year, then the Epiphany Season is extended.

 

Weeks of Commemoration

Three weeks prior to entering the Lenten Season is three weeks of Commemoration. The first of these Sundays is the commemoration of the Deceased Priests. The Second week of commemoration is given the title of the Righteous and Just, which is equivalent to All Saints day in the Roman Catholic Liturgy that is celebrated on the 1^st of November. The Maronite Catholic liturgy celebrates all those who have led lives of righteousness and justice, whether they are named saints or not. This is celebrated throughout the entire week. The proceeding Sunday and the week that ensues, is a commemoration of All the Faithful Departed. This is equivalent to the Roman Catholic Liturgy for All Souls Day, which falls on the 2^nd of November. However due to the Latinization of the Maronite Catholic Church over the centuries, and the fact that the Maronite Catholic Church in Australia is surrounded by Roman Catholic Churches, the celebration of the Feast day for saints and for the departed are often recalled and celebrated on both occasions, with distinctions blurred.

 

The Season of Lent

For both the Roman Catholic and Maronite Catholic Churches, Lent is an important time, a type of retreat when the faithful renew their baptism, by associating with Christ’s struggle. In commencing the Seasons on a Sunday, in the Maronite Church, the purpose is to have a tight calendar with no ‘empty’ days. So unlike the Roman Catholic Rite, where Lent commences with Ash Wednesday, for the Maronite Catholic Rite, the Season of Lent begins on the Sunday with the focus on the Gospel passage of the Wedding at Cana. It is followed immediately with Ash Monday, which officially begins the Season of Lent and fasting. However, once again, in Australia, numerous Maronites celebrate Ash Wednesday in their local Roman Catholic Parish rather through attending Maronite services for Ash Monday.

In the Maronite Lectionary, the Sunday Gospel passages throughout Lent focus on the healing and forgiving powers of Jesus, a reminder that Lent is a time to transform one’s life, just as the water was changed to wine in the Sunday Gospel that marks the entry into the Lenten Season. It reminds the faithful of the eternal wedding feast they are called to through Christ’s Resurrection.

Holy Week begins with Palm Sunday for both Churches. In the Maronite lectionary Great Lent begins with a rigorous fast on Ash Monday while Holy Week provides liturgical experiences of the most sublime poetry, music, art and ritual.

 

The Seasons of Easter and Pentecost

The Season of the Resurrection is seven weeks long in the Maronite Lectionary and the Gospel passages focus on the appearance of Jesus to the disciples. The Eastern Churches celebrate the feast of the Resurrection of the Lord as the main event of the liturgical year. The faithful greet one another with the refrain, ‘Christ is risen!’

This Easter Season is followed by the longest Season in the Maronite Catholic Lectionary, that being Pentecost. This recalls the emphases on the Holy Trinity dominant in Eastern Rites and as evidenced through the repeated invocation to the Father, Son and Holy Spirit, throughout the Maronite Divine Liturgy. Many of the Sunday Gospel Readings are selected around the discourses in John’s Gospel concerning the sending of the Paraclete. As one enters deeper into the Pentecost Season, the Sunday Lectionary shifts the focus towards the choosing of the disciples, their sending out, and their mission.  

 

The Seasons of Glorious Cross

Most Seasons begin on a Sunday, while the Feast of the Glorious Cross falls on 14^th September, which recalls the event of the Cross revealed to Emperor Constantine. The feast day constitutes the first week in the Season in the Maronite Lectionary. This Season focuses on Judgment Day, with its emphasis on forthcoming persecutions as depicted in Matthew’s Gospel. The Liturgical Year ends on the last week in October, and similar to the Roman Catholic Lectionary, the last Sunday is titled ‘Christ the King.’

 

Table 3 below depicts differences between the two lectionaries. However other feast days are shared, including Holy Trinity which occurs the Sunday after Pentecost, and the Feast of Christ the King which is the Last Sunday of the Liturgical Year.

 

Conclusion

Despite the variations in the Roman Catholic and Maronite Catholic lectionaries, the different Western and Eastern spiritualities, and at times what appear to be limitations of the lectionaries, overall a carefully studied lectionary offers the congregation a well rounded understanding of Jesus’ ministry and the life and mission of the Church. Each Church is unique in the way the Seasons depict the important events in the life of Christ’s earthly ministry, and the early Church.

 

By Dr Margaret Ghosn

Lebanon is a small Middle Eastern country which boasts an extensive history and extraordinary landscape. With the Mediterranean Sea lapping its coastline, its inland consists of rugged, snow capped mountains, waterfalls amid lush vegetation, endless olive fields, deep valleys and the enduring cedars. This naturally beautiful country, today the place of political unrest, has been the fertile soil for many religions, one of them the Maronite Catholic Church.

Christianity in Lebanon began with Christ who addressed the inhabitants of Tyre and Sidon in South Lebanon:

 

Jesus left that place and went away to the district of Tyre and Sidon. Just then a Canaanite woman from that region came out and started shouting, ‘Have mercy on me, Lord, Son of David; my daughter is tormented by a demon.’ But he did not answer her at all. And his disciples came and urged him, saying, ‘Send her away, for she keeps shouting after us.’ He answered, ‘I was sent only to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.’ But she came and knelt before him, saying, ‘Lord, help me.’ He answered, ‘It is not fair to take the children’s food and throw it to the dogs.’ She said, ‘Yes, Lord, yet even the dogs eat the crumbs that fall from their masters’ table.’ Then Jesus answered her, ‘Woman, great is your faith! Let it be done for you as you wish.’ And her daughter was healed instantly. (Mt 15:21-28)

 

In fact it was the call of the Syro-Phoenician woman that marked in Matthew’s Gospel the beginning of a change in the scope of Jesus’ ministry.

 

Following on from Jesus, Paul the Apostle visited Tyre around 58 CE and stayed with the disciples:

 

We came in sight of Cyprus; and leaving it on our left, we sailed to Syria and landed at Tyre, because the ship was to unload its cargo there. We looked up the disciples and stayed there for seven days. Through the Spirit they told Paul not to go on to Jerusalem. When our days there were ended, we left and proceeded on our journey; and all of them, with wives and children, escorted us outside the city. There we knelt down on the beach and prayed and said farewell to one another. Then we went on board the ship, and they returned home. (Acts 21:3-6)

 

As Harb notes, significant events in the history of Lebanon’s Christians included the building of the first Christian cathedral and the participation of the Bishops of Lebanon in the early Church Councils that laid the foundation of Christianity. Yet the faith was still to reach to the heartland of Lebanon, the mountains and deep valleys. This was the undertaking of the followers of Saint Maroun.[1]

Saint Maroun led a monastic life in the latter part of the fourth century in the Cyrrhus region of Syria Secunda. His hermetical way of living attracted disciples who formed the nucleus of the Maronites. These disciples consecrated themselves to worship and austerity, in a life of seclusion and silence.  

The Maronite movement reached Lebanon when St Maroun's first disciple Abraham of Cyrrhus who was called the Apostle of Lebanon, realised that paganism was thriving in Lebanon, so he set out to convert the pagans to Christians by introducing them to the way of St Maroun.

In 451 CE the Fourth Ecumenical Council was convened at Chalcedon and professed the dual nature of Christ’s divinity and humanity. This led to a schism in the Church with the Pope in Rome as Head of the WesternChurch, the Patriarch of Constantinople and Byzantine Romans, Melkites, Orthodox and Maronites, following the Diocese of Antioch. Those who opposed the Chalcedon theological stance included the Monophysites or Jacobites, Copts, Abbyssinians, Syriac Orthodox and Armenian Gregorians. The divisions still exist today.

Since the fourth century, the hermitic life has been an uninterrupted chain in the Maronite Rite and hermits have always been held in great esteem. In the eighth century, more than 300 hermitic cells were to be found around the Monastery of Saint Maroun in Syria. For centuries, this kind of life was evident among the Maronites who desired silence and solitude. By the fifth century the Maronites, with the Arab invasions, left Syria to seek refuge in the mountains of North Lebanon.[2] Many retreated to caves and hermitages, particularly in the Qadisha Valley, where its natural serenity and ruggedness, offered the hermits and recluses an ideal setting for contemplation, asceticism and prayer.[3] Here the community flourished with more Maronites in the seventh and eighth centuries moving to this location of safety. The Maronite people led a daily eremitical life in work, prayer, obedience and devotion to spiritual authorities. They became known as monastic people as it was around the monasteries that the Maronite community continually re-formed.[4] In the Quadisha valley today, there are over two hundred hermit cells excavated in the rock of the mountains. The monastery there was for centuries the Patriarchal Residence of Qannoubin and it is there that numerous bishops and Patriarchs, especially in the 15 to the 17 centuries, came from.

As a result of the Arab conquest of Antioch in 638, no Chalcedonian Patriarch resided in the city, having moved to Constantinople. Pope Martin appointed an Apostolic delegate to monitor the religious affairs. For forty years, from 702 to 704, Antioch was without a Catholic Patriarch. Under these circumstances the Maronites proceeded with the election of their first Patriarch John Maroun, who was consecrated by the Papal Legate and later in Rome confirmed by the Pope, as the first Maronite Patriarch and 63^rd Patriarch of Antioch. The Maronites filled an ecclesial vacuum created by Melkite Patriarchs.[5]

While the spiritual and monastic roots of the MaroniteChurch go back to Maroun in the fourth century, the ecclesiastical organization of the Maronite Patriarchate of Antioch dates to the eighth century. From this time the Maronites became a self-governing (sui iuris) Church of the Antiochene Tradition. The Maronite Patriarchs took the name ‘Peter’ demonstrating the continuous link to the faith of Peter the Apostle, who resided for a time in Antioch.

Antioch, in north western Syria, was an important political and cultural centre after Rome and Alexandria, in the Roman Empire. It was significant in the development of early Christian expansion. Paul writes about his travels to Antioch, Peter evangelized there, and it is where the followers were first called ‘Christians’ (Acts 11:26). Antioch also became an influential centre of Christianity, where a famous theological school was established. It eventually became the centre of an important Eastern Church Tradition, the Antiochene Tradition, which includes the three West Syriac Churches including the MaroniteChurch. It later became the seat of the Maronite Patriarchate. Antioch produced famous figures including Ignatius and John Chrysostom.[6]

The full name of the MaroniteChurch is the ‘AntiochianSyrianMaroniteChurch.’ The Maronite Synod (2003-2006) distinguished aspects of the Maronite Catholic Church.

 

…she is firstly, an Antiochene Syriac Church, with a special liturgical heritage; secondly, a Chalcedonian Church; thirdly, a Patriarchal Church with an ascetic and a monastic aspect; fourthly, a Church in full union with the Apostolic Roman See; fifthly, a Church incarnated in her Lebanese and Eastern environment, and the Countries of Expansion.[7]

 

The Maronite Catholic Church has a Syriac tradition which is the closest continuous Christian representative of the cultural background of the Bible and it belongs to the same historical and geographical milieu as did Jesus Christ. Maronites believe that their isolation in Mount Lebanon contributed to their independent character as a Church and as a society, and their identity is consequently identified strongly with the identity of Lebanon.[8]

 

 [1] Antoine Harb, The Maronites and History Constants (Centre Libanis  D’Information, 1985), 24, 26, 34.